Haldane Phase Research Articles

Symmetry-protected topological phases beyond groups: The q -deformed Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki model

We argue that the $q$-deformed spin-1 AKLT Hamiltonian should be regarded as a representative of a symmetry protected topological phase. Even though it fails to exhibit any of the standard symmetries known to protect the Haldane phase it still displays all characteristics of this phase: Fractionalized spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ boundary spins, non-trivial string order and - when using an appropriate definition - a two-fold degeneracy in the entanglement spectrum. We trace these properties back to the existence of an $SO_q(3)$ quantum group symmetry and speculate about potential links to discrete duality symmetries. We expect our findings and methods to be relevant for the identification, characterization and classification of other symmetry-protected topological phases with non-standard symmetries.

Construction of variational matrix product states for the Heisenberg spin-1 chain

We propose a simple variational wave function that captures the correct ground state energy of the spin-1 Heisenberg chain model to within 0.04\%. The wave function is written in the matrix product state (MPS) form with the bond dimension $D=8$, and characterized by three fugacity parameters. The proposed MPS generalizes the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) state by dressing it with dimers, trimers, and general $q$-dimers. The fugacity parameters control the number and the average size of the $q$-mers. Furthermore, the $D=8$ variational MPS state captures the ground states of the entire family of bilinear-biquadratic Hamiltonian belonging to the Haldane phase to high accuracy. The 2-4-2 degeneracy structure in the entanglement spectrum of our MPS state is found to match well with the results of density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculation, which is computationally much heavier. Spin-spin correlation functions also find excellent fit with those obtained by DMRG.

Inaccessible entanglement in symmetry protected topological phases

We study the entanglement structure of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases from an operational point of view by considering entanglement distillation in the presence of symmetries. We demonstrate that non-trivial SPT phases in one-dimension necessarily contain some entanglement which is inaccessible if the symmetry is enforced. More precisely, we consider the setting of local operations and classical communication (LOCC) where the local operations commute with a global onsite symmetry group G, which we call G-LOCC, and we define the inaccessible entanglement Einacc as the entanglement that cannot be used for distillation under G-LOCC. We derive a tight bound on Einacc which demonstrates a direct relation between inaccessible entanglement and the SPT phase, namely , where Dω is the topologically protected edge mode degeneracy of the SPT phase ω with symmetry G. For particular phases such as the Haldane phase, so the bound becomes an equality. We numerically investigate the distribution of states throughout the bound, and show that typically the region near the upper bound is highly populated, and also determine the nature of those states lying on the upper and lower bounds. We then discuss the relation of Einacc to string order parameters, and also the extent to which it can be used to distinguish different SPT phases of matter.

Low-energy physics of isotropic spin-1 chains in the critical and Haldane phases

Using a matrix product state algorithm with infinite boundary conditions, we compute high-resolution dynamic spin and quadrupolar structure factors in the thermodynamic limit to explore the low-energy excitations of isotropic bilinear-biquadratic spin-1 chains. Haldane mapped the spin-1 Heisenberg antiferromagnet to a continuum field theory, the non-linear sigma model (NL$\sigma$M). We find that the NL$\sigma$M fails to capture the influence of the biquadratic term and provides only an unsatisfactory description of the Haldane phase physics. But several features in the Haldane phase can be explained by non-interacting multi-magnon states. The physics at the Uimin-Lai-Sutherland point is characterized by multi-soliton continua. Moving into the extended critical phase, we find that these excitation continua contract, which we explain using a field-theoretic description. New excitations emerge at higher energies and, in the vicinity of the purely biquadratic point, they show simple cosine dispersions. Using block fidelities, we identify them as elementary one-particle excitations and relate them to the integrable Temperley-Lieb chain.

Fragility of time-reversal symmetry protected topological phases

The second law of thermodynamics points to the existence of an `arrow of time', along which entropy only increases. This arises despite the time-reversal symmetry (TRS) of the microscopic laws of nature. Within quantum theory, TRS underpins many interesting phenomena, most notably topological insulators and the Haldane phase of quantum magnets. Here, we demonstrate that such TRS-protected effects are fundamentally unstable against coupling to an environment. Irrespective of the microscopic symmetries, interactions between a quantum system and its surroundings facilitate processes which would be forbidden by TRS in an isolated system. This leads not only to entanglement entropy production and the emergence of macroscopic irreversibility, but also to the demise of TRS-protected phenomena, including those associated with certain symmetry-protected topological phases. Our results highlight the enigmatic nature of TRS in quantum mechanics, and elucidate potential challenges in utilising topological systems for quantum technologies.

Finite-size scaling at a topological transition: Bilinear-biquadratic spin-1 chain

We consider a finite size scaling function across a topological phase transition in 1D models. For models of non-interacting fermions it was shown to be universal for all topological symmetry classes and markedly asymmetric between trivial and topological sides of the transition (Gulden et al 2016). Here we verify its universality for the topological transition between dimerized and Haldane phases in bilinear-biquadratic spin-1 chain. To this end we perform high-accuracy variational matrix product state simulations. We show that the scaling function, expressed in terms of $L/\xi$, where $L$ is the chain length and $\xi$ is the correlation length, coincides with that of three species of non-interacting massive Majorana fermions. The latter is known to be a proper description of the conformal critical theory with central charge $c=3/2$. We have shown that it still holds away from the conformal point, including the finite size corrections. We have also observed peculiar differences between even and odd size chains, which may be fully accounted for by residual interactions of the edge states.

Interaction-driven polarization shift in the t−V−V′ lattice fermion model at half filling: Emergent Haldane phase

We study the $t-V-V'$ model in one dimension at half-filling. It is known that for large enough $V$ fixed, as $V'$ is varied, the system goes from a charge-density wave into a Luttinger liquid, then a bond-order, and then a second charge density wave phase. We find that the Luttinger liquid state is further split into two, separating parts with distinct values of the many-body polarization Berry phase. Inside this phase, the variance of the polarization is infinite in the thermodynamic limit, meaning that even if the polarization differs, it would not be measurable. However, in the gapped phases on each side of the Luttinger liquid, the polarization takes a different measurable value, implying topologically distinction. The key difference is that the large-$V'$ phases are link-inversion symmetric, while the small-$V'$ one is site-inversion symmetric. We show that large-$V'$ phase can be related to an $S=1$ spin chain, and exhibits many features of the Haldane phase. The lowest lying states of the entanglement spectrum display different degeneracies in the two cases, and we also find string order in the large-$V'$ phase. We also study the system under open boundary conditions, and suggest that the number of defects is related to the topology.

Haldane insulator in the 1D nearest-neighbor extended Bose-Hubbard model with cavity-mediated long-range interactions

In the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model with on-site and nearest-neighbor interactions, a gapped phase characterized by an exotic non-local order parameter emerges, the Haldane insulator. Bose-Hubbard models with cavity-mediated global range interactions display phase diagrams, which are very similar to those with nearest-neighbor repulsive interactions, but the Haldane phase remains elusive there. Here we study the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor and cavity-mediated global-range interactions and scrutinize the existence of a Haldane Insulator phase. With the help of extensive quantum Monte-Carlo simulations we find that in the Bose-Hubbard model with only cavity-mediated global-range interactions no Haldane phase exists. For a combination of both interactions, the Haldane Insulator phase shrinks rapidly with increasing strength of the cavity-mediated global-range interactions. Thus, in spite of the otherwise very similar behavior the mean-field like cavity-mediated interactions strongly suppress the non-local order favored by nearest-neighbor repulsion in some regions of the phase diagram.Graphical abstract

Topological superconductivity by doping symmetry-protected topological states

We propose an exotic scenario that topological superconductivity can emerge by doping strongly interacting fermionic systems whose spin degrees of freedom form bosonic symmetry protected topological (SPT) state. Specifically, we study a 1-dimensional (1D) example where the spin degrees of freedom form a spin-1 Haldane phase. {Before doping, the charge and spin degrees of freedom are both gapped.} Upon doping, {the charge channel becomes gapless and is described by a $c=1$ compactified bosonic conformal field theory (CFT), while the spin channel remains gapped and still form a bosonic SPT state. Interestingly,} an instability toward $p$-wave topological superconductivity is induced coexisting with the symmetry protected spin edge modes that are inherited from the Haldane phase. This scenario is confirmed by density-matrix renormalization group simulation of a concrete lattice model, where we find that topological superconductivity is robust against interactions. We further show that by stacking doped Haldane phases an exotic 2D anisotropic superconductor can be realized, {where the boundaries transverse to the {chain-}direction are either gapless or spontaneously symmetry-broken due to the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis (LSM) anomaly.}

Haldane and dimer phases in a frustrated spin chain: an exact groundstate and associated topological phase transition

A Heisenberg spin-s chain with alternating ferromagnetic (FM) () and antiferromagnetic () nearest-neighbor (NN) interactions, exhibits the dimer and spin-2s Haldane phases in the limits and respectively. These two phases are understood to be topologically equivalent. Induction of the frustration through the next NN FM interaction () produces a very rich quantum phase diagram. With frustration, the whole phase diagram is divided into a FM and a nonmagnetic (NM) phase. For s = 1/2, the full NM phase is seen to be of Haldane–dimer type, but for s > 1/2, a spiral phase comes between the FM and the Haldane–dimer phases. The study of a suitably defined string-order parameter and spin-gap at the phase boundary indicates that the Haldane–dimer and spiral phases have different topological characters. We also find that, along the line in the NM phase, an NN dimer state is the exact groundstate, provided where κ ⩽ s + h for applied magnetic field h. Without magnetic field, the position of JC is on the FM–NM phase boundary when s = 1/2, but for s > 1/2, the location of JC is on the phase separation line between the Haldane–dimer and spiral phases.

Symmetry-protected topological phases in a two-leg SU(N) spin ladder with unequal spins

Chiral Haldane phases are examples of one-dimensional topological states of matter which are protected by the projective $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ group (or its subgroup ${\mathbb{Z}}_{N}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\mathbb{Z}}_{N})$ with $N>2$. The unique feature of these symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases is that they are accompanied by inversion-symmetry breaking and the emergence of different left and right edge states which transform, for instance, respectively in the fundamental $(\mathbit{N})$ and antifundamental $(\overline{\mathbit{N}})$ representations of $\mathrm{SU}(N)$. We show, by means of complementary analytical and numerical approaches, that these chiral SPT phases as well as the nonchiral ones are realized as the ground states of a generalized two-leg $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ spin ladder in which the spins in the first chain transform in $\mathbit{N}$ and the second in $\overline{\mathbit{N}}$. In particular, we map out the phase diagram for $N=3$ and 4 to show that all the possible symmetry-protected topological phases with projective $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ symmetry appear in this simple ladder model.

Existence of a Spectral Gap in the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki Model on the Hexagonal Lattice.

The S=1 Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) quantum spin chain was the first rigorous example of an isotropic spin system in the Haldane phase. The conjecture that the S=3/2 AKLT model on the hexagonal lattice is also in a gapped phase has remained open, despite being a fundamental problem of ongoing relevance to condensed-matter physics and quantum information theory. Here we confirm this conjecture by demonstrating the size-independent lower bound Δ>0.006 on the spectral gap of the hexagonal model with periodic boundary conditions in the thermodynamic limit. Our approach consists of two steps combining mathematical physics and high-precision computational physics. We first prove a mathematical finite-size criterion which gives an analytical, size-independent bound on the spectral gap if the gap of a particular cut-out subsystem of 36 spins exceeds a certain threshold value. Then we verify the finite-size criterion numerically by performing state-of-the-art DMRG calculations on the subsystem.

Homogeneous and domain-wall topological Haldane conductors with dressed Rydberg atoms

The interplay between antiferromagnetic interaction and hole motion is capable of inducing intriguing conducting topological Haldane phases described by a finite non-local string order parameter. Here we show that these states of matter are captured by the one dimensional $t-J_z$ model which can be experimentally realized with dressed Rydberg atoms trapped onto a one dimensional optical lattice. In the sector with vanishing total magnetization exact Bethe ansatz calculations associated to bosonization technique allow to predict that both metallic and superconducting topological Haldane states can be achieved. With the addition of an appropriate magnetic field the system enters in a domain wall structure with finite total magnetization. In this regime conducting topological Haldane states are confined in domains separated by regions where fully polarized Luttinger liquid occurs. A procedure to dynamically stabilize such Haldane topological phases starting from a confined Ising state is also described

Tensor network renormalization group study of spin-1 random Heisenberg chains

We use a tensor network strong-disorder renormalization group (tSDRG) method to study spin-1 random Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains. The ground state of the clean spin-1 Heisenberg chain with uniform nearest-neighbor couplings is a gapped phase known as the Haldane phase. Here we consider disordered chains with random couplings, in which the Haldane gap closes in the strong disorder regime. As the randomness strength is increased further and exceeds a certain threshold, the random chain undergoes a phase transition to a critical random-singlet phase. The strong-disorder renormalization group method formulated in terms of a tree tensor network provides an efficient tool for exploring ground-state properties of disordered quantum many-body systems. Using this method we detect the quantum critical point between the gapless Haldane phase and the random-singlet phase via the disorder-averaged string order parameter. We determine the critical exponents related to the average string order parameter, the average end-to-end correlation function and the average bulk spin-spin correlation function, both at the critical point and in the random-singlet phase. Furthermore, we study energy-length scaling properties through the distribution of energy gaps for a finite chain. Our results are in closer agreement with the theoretical predictions than what was found in previous numerical studies. As a benchmark, a comparison between tSDRG results for the average spin correlations of the spin-1/2 random Heisenberg chain with those obtained by using unbiased zero-temperature QMC method is also provided.

Inelastic neutron scattering study of the anisotropic S=1 spin chain [Ni(HF2)(3−Clpyridine)4]BF4

[Ni(HF$_2$)(3-Clpyridine)$_4$]BF$_4$ (NBCT) is a one-dimensional, $S = 1$ spin chain material that shows no magnetic neutron Bragg peaks down temperatures of 0.1 K. Previous work identified NBCT to be in the Haldane phase and near a quantum phase transition as a function of $D/J$ to the large-$D$ quantum paramagnet phase (QPM), where $D$ is the axial single-ion anisotropy and $J$ is the intrachain superexchange. Herein, inelastic neutron scattering results are presented on partially deuterated, $^{11}$B enriched NBCT polycrystalline samples in zero magnetic field and down to temperatures of 0.3 K. Comparison to density matrix renormalization group calculations yields $D/J = 1.51$ and a significant rhombic single-ion anisotropy $E$ ($E/D \approx 0.03$, $E/J \approx 0.05$). These $D$, $J$, and $E$ values place NBCT in the large-$D$ QPM phase but precipitously near a quantum phase transition to a long-range ordered phase.

Duality and ground-state phase diagram for the quantum XYZ model with arbitrary spin in one spatial dimension

Five duality transformations are unveiled for the quantum XYZ model with arbitrary spin in one spatial dimension. The presence of these duality transformations, together with an extra Hamiltonian symmetry, drastically reduce the entire ground-state phase diagram to two finite regimes—the principal regimes, with all the other ten regimes dual to them. Combining with the determination of critical points from the conventional order parameter approach and/or the fidelity approach to quantum phase transitions, we are able to map out the ground-state phase diagram for the quantum XYZ model with arbitrary spin . This is explicitly demonstrated for and 2. As it turns out, all the critical points, with central charge , are self-dual for half-integer as well as integer spin . However, in the latter case, the presence of the Haldane phase results in extra lines of critical points with central charge , which are not self-dual.

Spinon confinement and deconfinement in spin-1 chains

Motivated by the rich phase diagrams recently unveiled in frustrated spin-1 chains with competing next-nearest neighbour and four-spin interactions, we investigate the nature of the elementary excitations of spin-1 chains in the vicinity of phase transitions using the matrix-product state (MPS) representation of elementary excitations. First, we show that both spinons and magnons naturally arise in SU(2) invariant spin chains when describing ground states and elementary excitations using MPS. Then we investigate the nature of the elementary excitations across the first-oder transition between the Haldane phase and the topologically trivial next-nearest neighbor Haldane phase. We show explicitly that spinons deconfine at the transition, and we calculate the dispersion of these deconfined spinons with MPS. We also show that, immediately away from the transition line, spinons confine, forming dispersive spinon/anti-spinon bound states on both sides of the transition. Finally, we show that deconfined spinons also appear at the transition between the Haldane phase and the spontaneously dimerized phase when this transition is first order.

Multiparticle Interactions for Ultracold Atoms in Optical Tweezers: Cyclic Ring-Exchange Terms.

Dominant multiparticle interactions can give rise to exotic physical phases with anyonic excitations and phase transitions without local order parameters. In spin systems with a global SU(N) symmetry, cyclic ring-exchange couplings constitute the first higher-order interaction in this class. In this Letter, we propose a protocol showing how SU(N)-invariant multibody interactions can be implemented in optical tweezer arrays. We utilize the flexibility to rearrange the tweezer configuration on short timescales compared to the typical lifetimes, in combination with strong nonlocal Rydberg interactions. As a specific example, we demonstrate how a chiral cyclic ring-exchange Hamiltonian can be implemented in a two-leg ladder geometry. We study its phase diagram using density-matrix renormalization group simulations and identify phases with dominant vector chirality, a ferromagnet, and an emergent spin-1 Haldane phase. We also discuss how the proposed protocol can be utilized to implement the strongly frustrated J-Q model, acandidate for hosting a deconfined quantum critical point.

Ground-State Phases of Alternating-Bond S = 1 Diamond Chains

The ground-state phases of alternating-bond spin-1 diamond chains are investigated. Each ground state consists of an array of spin clusters separated by singlet dimers owing to an infinite number of local conservation laws. If no singlet dimers are present, the ground state is equivalent to that of a spin chain with infinite length.For strong frustration, we find a series of quantum phase transitions as in the case of alternating-bond mixed diamond chains with spins 1 and 1/2. For intermediate frustration, we find the nonmagnetic Haldane or dimer phases according to whether the bond alternation is weak or strong. For weak frustration and weak bond alternation, we find the ferrimagnetic states with spontaneous magnetizations $m=1/6$ and 1/3 per site. The ferrimagnetic state with $m=1/6$ is accompanied by a spontaneous translational symmetry breakdown. This phase vanishes for strong bond alternation.

Reentrance of the topological phase in a spin-1 frustrated Heisenberg chain

For the Haldane phase, the magnetic field usually tends to break the symmetry and drives the system into a topologically trivial phase. Here, we report a novel reentrance of the Haldane phase at zero temperature in the spin-1 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on sawtooth chain. A partial Haldane phase is induced by the magnetic field, which is the combination of the Haldane state in one sublattice and a ferromagnetically ordered state in the other sublattice. Such a partial topological order is a result of the zero-temperature entropy due to quantum fluctuations caused by geometrical frustration.